Abstract

PIP: The Ministry of Health and WHO recommend establishment of a National AIDS Advisory Council in Zambia with that country's president or vice president leading it to strengthen AIDS prevention efforts. They conclude that HIV/AIDS is a major health problem in Zambia. Other advice includes more resources for caring for AIDS cases, improvement of AIDS reporting, and creation of a national board or committee on blood transfusion. The National Council would unify policies and activities of the National AIDS Prevention and Control Programme (NAPCP) and guarantee more government funding for NAPCP. Yet the Deputy Minister of Health does not support its creation because the country's new government, which came into power in late 1991, wants to create a National Health Council with various committees centering on different health issues including AIDS. Yet the new government has not paid any more attention to AIDS than the prior government. Instead it puts most of its efforts into reconstructing the bankrupt economy and paying off the country's debt. The new Minister of Health claims health workers are putting too much emphasis on AIDS while malaria kills more people than does HIV. The new government has tried to distribute more drugs in the health care system, however. AIDS health workers always face shortages in medical supplies, drugs, transportation, and accommodation. 75% of patients at urban hospitals are at least HIV infected, up from 13% in 1986. This is evidence of how HIV/AIDS is already burdening the system. By December 1991, the number of recorded AIDS and AIDS Related Complex cases was 24,519 but the actual number is probably much higher. The new government hopes to engage private companies in the fight against AIDS. It also intends to mainstream AIDS into the health care and education system particularly in rural areas.